A/N: I've been doing some thinking, and I've noticed how Special Delivery is quite the interesting and unique arc compared to the other FNaF-related arcs in this fic. For pretty much every other event in the FNaF timeline, I have tried to adhere to the canon FNaF timeline as closely as possible. Sure, I might have added my own creative spin on them, but the actual events themselves adhere to the original timeline. Special Delivery is different because, unlike in previous events, the ghost kids are working to prevent the canon events of Special Delivery from playing out. Because canon Special Delivery would mean that Fazbear Entertainment get to sell a whole bunch of hacked and glitched murder machine animatronics to an unsuspecting public, which would be considered a failure to the ghost kids and is something that should be prevented at all costs for reasons that should be pretty obvious to everyone.
It's also interesting because there are some things now that Mike can do that the ghost kids can't, while there are other things that the ghost kids can do that Mike can't. Just my thoughts on the matter, is all 😊
Anyways, moving on to the chapter!
Chapter 163 – Fazbear Job Offer
Mike: So that's where things stand. Fazbear Entertainment actually agreed to delay the release of the Special Delivery project without arguing, at least for now. Good job guys.
Mike nodded, an appreciative smile on his face as he finished typing his message. He and his children were communicating with each other through online messaging at this very moment, with him taking the time to update the kids on how their actions against Fazbear Entertainment were playing out. Although their work was only just getting started, it was still satisfying to give them the good news that their efforts had paid off.
Fritz: Hell yeah! We showed those assholes what's up!
Susie: Glad they actually listened to us, even if they only did it so you wouldn't wreck them.
Jeremy: Did they want anything from you, Dad?
Mike's smile faded a bit, turning into a more neutral look even as his thought about the answer to Jeremy's question. While he would gladly spend several days ranting about the many stupidities of Fazbear Entertainment, the truth was that they weren't completely idiotic. Whatever their reason might be, he doubted that they would try to antagonize him, at least intentionally. His kids had made it clear that all it would take is just one push to declare a war on the company dedicated to its extermination, a message that could very well transform into the truth depending on Fazbear Entertainment's reaction to "his" ultimatum. But that meant their actual intentions were a complete mystery.
Mike: I don't know, Jeremy. It could just be to continue the negotiations in person. We'll have to wait and see. I might have to come up with my next few plans on the fly. I'll let you guys know what happens after it's done.
Gabe: Can you figure out the address of the place where they're making the animatronics? Even if there's a lot of buildings, even knowing where one is could be a big help.
Charlie: That's actually a really good point. If we knew an address, we could have someone drive there while we anchor ourselves to the car, and then we'd be able to infiltrate the place without anyone ever realizing we were there in the first place!
Cassidy: Ooh, we could be like secret agents! Ghost secret agents! That would be so badass!
Mike chuckled at his daughter's enthusiasm, but he was more impressed with Gabe's and Charlie's suggestion. Clearly, his children weren't interested in just flying around at home accomplishing nothing while they waited for him to recover and come home. They were itching to go out and do everything they could to counteract Glitchtrap's plans, no matter how limited their actions might be.
Mike: If I can ask where one of their manufacturing locations is without sounding suspicious, I'll be sure to.
Liz: When are you going to be meeting them?
Mike frowned this time. That was another good question. It sounded like Fazbear Entertainment really wanted to meet with him soon, and for once he was in complete agreement. Assuming he didn't decide to outright destroy them, the longer they waited, the more likely it would be that Fazbear Entertainment lose patience, decide to ignore his ultimatum, and unleash a bunch of murderous corrupted machines to slaughter countless innocents who had no idea of the true nature of what they were buying.
Mike: Averus might want to meet with me personally. Otherwise, he could have sent me an email or called my phone.
Susie: Are you sure you're going to be safe with him, Dad?
Mike: I'm pretty sure. Averus is a corrupt bastard for a completely different reason than William Afton is. He's greedy to the core and probably a liar at heart too, but that doesn't mean he's a murderer. It's more like I'll have to be careful about what I say around him and what he says to me.
Fritz: Just be careful, Dad. The guy's still a massive dick.
Mike: I will guys. See you in a bit. I have to go give my reply to Averus.
After reading quickly through his kids' good-byes, Mike closed the messaging floor he was on and opened up his email. He spent a few moments thinking about how to word his reply to Averus, and then began to write.
To Mr. Averus,
I'm glad to see that you and your company have seen reason.
I think we can all agree that selling animatronics that malfunction badly enough to KILL the people they're meant to entertain is a fucking horrible idea. I really wish I could believe that the Toy Bonnie that broke my left arm and leg, landed me in the hospital, and almost killed me was a one-off thing and a complete fluke, but given your track record I highly doubt it. Sorry, but you've made too many mistakes for me to just believe anything that comes out of your mouth like a complete idiot.
I want to emphasize that the terms of my initial e-mail are NOT negotiable. I expect at MINIMUM a delay of three months, and don't be surprised if I ask for more. After nearly being killed by your so-called gift, I have every intention of making sure that that nothing like this can ever happen to someone who doesn't have the same experiences with your animatronics as I do. And if you have even the slightest hint of decency and common sense, you and your fellow execs would feel the same way.
That being said, while shortening the delay is off the table, I am willing to talk to you about the Special Delivery project otherwise. As much as I hate to admit it, the idea of selling animatronics to people's homes is a rather interesting and unique idea, which is one of the reasons why I didn't immediately post the video of Toy Bonnie's attack to the public as an act of revenge. Since I have plenty of free time while I'm recovering in the hospital, why don't we arrange a meeting where you come and visit me in this room? I'm not expected to recover for at least a few days, and we might as well use this time as productively as possible.
Mike Schmidt.
Mike nodded to himself, satisfied with the contents of his letter, before sending it. He had debated on telling Averus right there and then that his animatronic had been maliciously hacked and corrupted by an outside source, but ultimately decided against it. "I think I'm better off dropping that piece of news to him when we actually meet in person," he thought.
Mr. Averus' reply was swift and to the point.
Would you be available tomorrow afternoon at around 2 PM?
"At least I won't have long to wait," Mike thought dryly. He quickly sent an agreement, quickly gave an update to his kids, and then spent the rest of the day thinking about the upcoming meeting and how he should approach it. The hours seemed to fly by, and before he knew it, 2 PM on the next day was only a few short minutes away.
"Mr. Schmidt?" a nurse poked her head into his room. "You have a visitor. Someone named Mr. Averus wants to see you."
"Please invite him in, and then give us some privacy," Mike instructed. The nurse nodded and disappeared from the doorframe. A few minutes later, she returned, with the familiar Fazbear Entertainment executive a few steps behind her.
"Ah, Mr. Schmidt," Mr. Averus greeted him with what he clearly hoped was a sympathetic and apologetic expression. "On behalf of Fazbear Entertainment, I cannot express my apologies sincerely enough for the tragic accident that befell you a few days ago. This is truly an appalling turn of events."
"I'm glad you agree," was on the tip of Mike's tongue, though he managed to restrain himself from letting out the sarcastic remark at the last second. "I'm glad you're treating this with the seriousness it deserves," he said instead, before gesturing to the nurse. "Would you be kind to give us some privacy?"
"Yes, Mr. Schmidt," the nurse affirmed. She gave Mr. Averus a sideways glance, clearly questioning the relationship between the two men, but did as Mike asked and left the hospital room, closing the door behind her.
"Now then," Mike dropped the cordiality from his voice, though he made sure not to make himself sound too hostile either, "let's skip the bullshit and cut to the chase. I've had a friend do a little investigating into that Toy Bonnie that nearly killed me a few days ago. And they've found something very interesting. Apparently, someone working either for you or for that robotics company you hired to make your animatronics hacked some very nasty code into Toy Bonnie."
Mr. Averus' eyes widened slightly. "How did you discover this?" he questioned.
"That friend was a very skilled programmer who knows how to read through an animatronic's programming," Mike replied with a smirk. "But from what they told me, even a basic programmer would've been able to figure out what was going on if they saw the code."
"And you're freely volunteering this information to us?" Mr. Averus replied, his eyes carrying more than a hint of suspicion. "I would have thought that you would've demanded some sort of favor in exchange."
Mike's smile adopted a malicious edge. "I'm telling you this information freely because I want you to know one of the reasons why I didn't post Toy Bonnie's attack on a public website," he retorted, his smile vanishing and his eyes adopting a terrifying glare. "If I found out that the reason why Toy Bonnie put me in the hospital was because you or whoever you hired somehow introduced a glitch that caused your animatronics to attack people because you were that fucking incompetent, I'd make sure the whole wide world knew just how much of a fuck-up your business turned out to be," he finished with a menacing hiss in his voice.
Mike suppressed a smirk as he watched Averus visibly flinch at the venom in his tone. The words themselves were a lie; as long as Fazbear Entertainment didn't completely shit the bed in every way that mattered, the anonymity of Glitchtrap's possession victim meant that the benefits of their continued existence outweighed the risk. But the vindictiveness in the words was real, and that was more than enough to convince Averus that Mike was being completely and brutally honest. "Th…that is not necessary at all, Mr. Schmidt," he feebly tried to defend his company.
"But since you weren't the ones who actually screwed up badly enough to have your own animatronics attack and try to kill people," the hostility in Mike's voice vanished as quickly as it appeared, "I can't really put the blame on you for this." Part of him did want to blame Fazbear Entertainment for not bothering to playtest the Toy Bonnie animatronic or for hiring Glitchtrap's possession victim to begin with, but even that might be unfair. The Toy Bonnie animatronic hadn't attacked him until well into the night, several hours after it had been turned on. And since Glitchtrap seemed to be more intelligent than the mewling, eternally tortured wretch he had spawned from, it wasn't entirely impossible for the malignant soul fragment to be instructing his victim to lay low until the time was right to wreak havoc.
Mr. Averus breathed a visible sigh of relief. "Rest assured, we have all unanimously agreed to your demand for a delay in the release of our project for 3 months, and we will be conducting our own investigations into how such a disaster could have happened," he promised.
"Oh, really?" Mike drawled. "Because that's not good enough for me."
"But…" Averus spluttered, but Mike didn't give him time to finish.
"But nothing," Mike viciously cut the Fazbear Entertainment executive off. "You've already messed up multiple times. I might have forgiven one fuck-up. One is a mistake. But two or more is a pattern and something I'm not just going to overlook, especially if the mistakes are gigantic as the ones you've made, and one of those mistakes ended up with me in the fucking hospital!"
"Perhaps if you were to join our robotics team, you would be able to inspect our so-called mistakes yourself!" Mr. Averus fired back, losing his patience. And inadvertently revealing his true intentions behind his meeting with Mike in the process.
"So that was your game from the start, wasn't it?" Mike mentally realized. He had apparently been wrong about Fazbear Entertainment's opinion of him. Apparently, they didn't see him as a nuisance and a threat, at least not first and foremost. Rather, they saw him as a potentially useful tool. Whatever personal feelings he and Fazbear Entertainment might have towards each other, it didn't change the fact that Mike had provided a tremendous and vital amount of assistance by saving their VR game when Nightmare had destroyed the original copies. It was also safe to assume that they had done their research into him, learning about his history and prestige as Eisensteel's chief engineer for several years. And without any knowledge of his manipulations from behind the scenes, they wanted to see just how much value they could get out of someone who had proved to be a major asset.
Mike wanted to laugh, even as a part of him marveled at their arrogance. "You want to use me so badly?" he thought, and it took all of his self-control not to let a vindictive and mischievous smirk appear on his lips that Fritz would be proud of. "All right, I'll play your little game. Let's see what happens when I give you exactly what you want."
"Schmidt?" Averus' voice caught through his thoughts.
The voice brought Mike back to reality. "I only retired from Eisensteel a few years ago so that I could enjoy the rest of my life in peace," he coldly informed Averus. "I'm not exactly enthusiastic on coming back to work full-time, especially for a company that almost killed me."
"I understand your reservations," Averus tried to mollify Mike without looking like he was begging. "But with your experience, I truly believe that working on our behalf would be incredibly valuable for both you and for Fazbear Entertainment."
"Holy crap, they REALLY want me working on the project for them, don't they?" Mike thought. He looked Averus straight in the eye. "If you want me to work for you, there are going to be…conditions," he warned.
It took every bit of self-control in Averus not to groan out loud at the word. "What conditions…Schmidt?"
Mike smiled. "First, let me sweeten things a bit. Some of this might sound familiar to deal you made with Mr. Nacht a while back. I would be willing to work full-time on the project, and only on the Special Delivery project, completely for free."
Averus' eyes widened, and Mike could almost physically see the green cash signs appear in the executive's eyes, just like when Nightmare had offered to fix the VR game for free. "That is a…very generous offer, Mr. Schmidt."
Mike's smile turned cold. "I'm glad you think so, because that's where the good news ends. Mr. Nacht's offer was one that was made out of generosity and good faith. Two things which I don't have to nearly the same degree. I might be willing to work for free, but this time you and your company are going to pay in other ways."
A cold wave of reality hit Averus as he realized that Fazbear Entertainment wouldn't be getting a free pass this time around. "And what do you mean by that?" he questioned.
"Naturally, the first condition will be that you put me as the head of the project. At least with regards to the creation and programming of the animatronics themselves," Mike outlined his first demand. "I also want open and total access to every aspect of the project so that I see any problems ahead of time and act accordingly."
Mike somewhat expected Averus to protest, but to his surprise by the executive brushed his demand off fairly quickly with a wave of his hand. "That shouldn't be too hard to accomplish," Averus assured him. "Clearly, our old head of robotics and engineering was too incompetent to deserve his role if he allowed a mistake this blatant and disastrous to occur."
The fact that Averus could unilaterally make such a claim without even bothering to speak with the rest of the other executives made it clear that they were already planning on throwing him under the bus as a scapegoat to begin with. Something that Mike would have to keep in mind going forward.
"I don't give a shit what you do, as long as you get it done," Mike replied coolly. "And as for my second condition…if I demand to make a major change, whether it be to spend an additional month reprogramming them to make them safer, or spending extra money on security to prevent outsiders from hacking them…so long as I can provide a justification for that change, I expect that change to be made," he finished, his tone making it clear there was no room for argument. To be honest, part of him had been tempted to demand that any change he made to be implemented unconditionally, no questions asked. But then he would be breaking his own strategic approach; pushing too hard on Fazbear Entertainment might make them push back. Much better instead to imply the unpleasant consequences for refusing, rather than stating them outright.
This time, Averus visibly hesitated. "I will…have to discuss that with my fellow executives," was all he was able to say this time around.
"And my last condition for now," To be honest, this was one that he had only just come up with now after realizing Fazbear Entertainment was back to its own strategy of putting the blame on someone else, "is that my name does not appear to the public regarding my role in the Special Delivery project in any capacity. I don't want to be publicly or officially associated with it, either positively or negatively. And rest assured," Mike's eyes narrowed and his voice took on a dangerous edge, "I will be taking legal action against Fazbear Entertainment if I get blamed for the failings of the Special Delivery project on an article somewhere online. Not to mention that this will all but guarantee that Toy Bonnie's attack shows up online for everyone to see."
"…understood," was all Mr. Averus could say in acknowledgment. Mike had the feeling he was trying to think of who else could be a possible scapegoat since he was far too risky of an option, but he didn't make any open comments.
"Why don't you share my terms with your fellow executives and think it over?" he suggested in a friendly tone. "I can guarantee that you won't find anyone else who's willing to take on the responsibilities of fixing the potentially widespread problem you have regarding your animatronics being hacked, for free."
"…you're right about that," Mr. Averus reluctantly had to agree with him.
As he got up to leave, Mike suddenly stopped them. "Hold on," he warned. "I have one last thing to tell you. This isn't a condition, more like a…food for thought. I still have some patience left for Fazbear Entertainment, but a lot less now than what I used to have. Even now, there's a part of me that's still tempted to just post that video of Toy Bonnie's attack online and watch as the world tears your company to pieces. How closer, or how further I get, to actually pulling that trigger, will depend entirely on the next few weeks and how much I feel that you're taking this crisis seriously. If you were to refuse my offer, if you were to argue against and try to stop every change that I make to improve your project, if things are taking too long to the point that I feel like you're trying to stall me out…well, I'll have to wonder whether all of this is worth it to begin with, and whether I wouldn't be better off just exposing your Special Delivery project and the disaster that's threatening to destroy it." His eyes hardened. "Because make no mistake, I'm not doing this because I care about Fazbear Entertainment. I'm doing this because I don't want what happened to me to happen to anyone else. And I will make sure this doesn't happen again. One way or another."
The threat wasn't explicitly made, but both of them could clearly see it all the same. Once again, Mr. Averus had to compose himself before saying anything further. He couldn't help but notice the similarities between Mike Schmidt and Mr. Nacht in this moment, and he didn't particularly enjoy the comparison. Even the deal that the two of them were offering with regards to their respective projects was quite similar…only this time, there was a direct threat coming from Mike for refusing him instead of the inevitable consequence of failure for refusing Nacht. "I will convey your offer to my fellow executives of Fazbear Entertainment," Mr. Averus promised, doing what he could to leave the hospital room as quickly as possible once without looking like he was panicking.
"By the way," Mike asked, just as Averus was about to reach the door to the hospital room, "you wouldn't by any chance be able to disclose the address of the place where you're making the animatronics, would you?"
Mr. Averus shook his head, finally relieved at having something that Mike didn't for the first time. "I'm afraid I cannot disclose the location of the animatronics factory unless your offer is accepted and you begin work for us," the man denied him with faux-regret.
Mike merely shrugged. "Just thought I'd ask," he replied smoothly. "And I think that concludes our business here."
Averus nodded brusquely and left the hospital room. Once he was out, he breathed a sigh of relief. The meeting with Schmidt hadn't been what he could call pleasant, but the end results of that meeting weren't unfavorable either. He had accomplished his mission: he and his fellow Fazbear executives had wanted to see just how much value they could get out of Mike Schmidt. While the man could and most certainly would cause headaches for them down the line, a competent and dedicated project head doing everything he could to eliminate the problems in their animatronics completely for free was an enticing offer. They would just have to make sure they didn't step on Schmidt's toes one too many times, and they could very well get their Special Delivery project better than ever to a public who would finally begin to forgive them of their mistakes once they realized what they were capable of.
Yes, this could turn out quite nicely, if Schmidt was as dedicated and as serious about the project as he claimed to be. And while Averus certainly didn't like Schmidt, he didn't have any reasons right now to doubt him either.
Back in the hospital room, Mike sighed as he reached for his phone. He now had some phone calls to make. The first would be to his ghost kids, to let them know what he and Averus had talked about in their meeting. The second would be to his old boss at Eisensteel and to Melody, to explain why he was suddenly and temporarily coming out of retirement to work at a robotics company far inferior to Eisensteel.
But just as he was about to dial Charlie's number, it suddenly rang with Susie's number instead. "I thought I told them not to call me during this hour because of the meeting with Averus," he thought. This actually put him a bit more on alert, as Susie calling him despite knowing about his meeting could potentially raise the importance of this call, and not in a good way. He accepted the call and brought the phone up to the mouthpiece. "Susie?" he greeted her. "Is something up?"
"Ummmm…Dad?" the former Chica inhabitant timidly responded. "I think I messed up."
"It's okay, Susie, just tell me what happened," Mike tried to assure her.
"Well…"
A Few Minutes Ago…
"Is that the phone ringing?" Fritz asked as a phone started to ring around the house.
"Yeah, but that's weird. Usually people try to call Dad through his cell phone," Jeremy pointed out.
"Somebody must have tried to contact him through his cell first, but he was in the hospital for the past few days so they probably couldn't get to him," Charlie theorized. "Especially if he was still in surgery during that time. I think having a backup is the only reason he still even has a landline phone to begin with."
"I'll get it!" Susie offered, floating towards the phone and picking it up. She didn't recognize the number on it, but didn't particularly feel bothered about it as she brought the phone to her mouth. "Hello?"
"HELLO," a familiar demon lord's voice greeted her in response. The voice was loud enough for everyone to recognize it, immediately bringing all other background activities to a screeching halt.
"N…Nightmare?" Susie spluttered.
"BUT OF COURSE," Nightmare replied coolly. "I WISH TO SPEAK WITH SCHMIDT, FOR I AM CURIOUS TO KNOW WHAT HIS PLANS ARE TO COUNTERACT THE THREAT OF GLITCHTRAP, NOW THAT WE KNOW THAT ONE HAS ESCAPED. HOWEVER, HE HAS NOT BEEN ANSWERING HIS CELL PHONE FOR PAST FEW DAYS. WHICH IS QUITE UNUSUAL, SINCE I KNOW THAT HE IS INTELLIGENT ENOUGH TO NOT IGNORE A CALL FOR ME. I CAN ONLY ASSUME THAT SOMETHING ELSE HAS OCCURRED BEHIND THE SCENES."
"Yeah," Susie replied bitterly. "You can say that."
"HMM?" Nightmare had picked up on the usually excitable and bright-spirited ghost girl's uncharacteristic behavior.
Susie knew she probably shouldn't have been spilling the beans out like this. She knew she should let someone else like Charlie or Gabe do the talking. But she had been so agitated, so furious and saddened by Mike's accident at the hands of Toy Bonnie, that she didn't care. The former Chica inhabitant needed someone, anyone to talk to about the Toy Bonnie attack that wasn't Melody or her siblings.
And Nightmare, for all his many flaws, could at least be trusted to not stab them in the back.
"Fazbear Entertainment sent Dad an animatronic," Susie explained, letting the frustration she had been feeling ever since Mike had gone to the hospital seep into her voice. "They're doing this stupid project where they're making Freddy Fazbear animatronics and selling them to people so that they can have animatronics in their houses."
"OH, SON OF A BITCH…" Nightmare snarled under his breath, though with his booming and supernaturally powerful voice everyone could hear him anyway. "GO ON…"
"Dad knew the animatronic was going to be messed up in some way, so he brought the animatronic into our living room and turned on all the cameras while he watched safely from the bedroom. He was going to watch the animatronic go crazy, maybe break some furniture and punch some holes in the wall, and record it with his cameras to blackmail Fazbear Entertainment," Susie continued her explanation.
"AT LEAST SCHMIDT DIDN'T GO ABOUT THIS IN AN UNINTELLIGENT MANNER, AT THE VERY LEAST," Mike mused. "AND I CAN SEE THE LOGIC BEHIND WHAT SCHMIDT WAS ATTEMPTING. I'M ASSUMING, HOWEVER, THAT THINGS ABRUPTLY WENT VERY POORLY."
"Yeah, no shit!" Susie retorted, getting so riled up just thinking about the events of that night that she briefly forgot who she was talking to. "The Toy Bonnie Dad bought did everything that Dad wanted him to at first, but then he ran up the stairs and started punching at Dad in the room. Fazbear Entertainment gave him a Freddy mask just in case the worst happened, but it didn't even fucking work! The stupid piece of shit broke Dad's arm and leg before Dad finally fried that thing with his electric weapons, and because of all this now Dad's in the fucking hospital for surgeries for God knows how long. All because Fazbear Entertainment sent him a fucking animatronic that was hacked by fucking Glitchtrap!" The agitated former Chica inhabitant finished her rant, her emotions running wild which such uncharacteristic ferocity that Nightmare actually waited for her to finish instead of interrupting.
"Holy shit…" Jeremy mumbled under his breath from a few feet away, as Susie took a few breaths to calm herself down. He couldn't remember the last time Susie had gone off on a rant like this. She must really have been emotionally worn down by everything that had happened, even more so than the rest of them.
"…I SEE…" Nightmare finally broke the silence with his voice. "DO YOU STILL HAVE THOSE RECORDINGS OF TOY BONNIE'S ATTACK?"
"Yeah…" Susie replied, now much calmer than before. "And we made sure that we weren't in it. Dad insisted that we not help him fight off Toy Bonnie, because otherwise it would ruin the footage."
"NO DOUBT HE INTENDS TO USE IT AS POWERFUL LEVERAGE AGAINST FAZBEAR ENTERTAINMENT," Nightmare acknowledged. "AND DO WE KNOW IF THE ANIMATRONIC WENT BERSERK BECAUSE IT WAS FUNDAMENTALLY FLAWED, OR BECAUSE OF OUTSIDE INTERFERENCE BY THE WRETCH POSSESSED BY GLITCHTRAP?" was his next question.
"It was definitely Glitchtrap's possession victim," Susie confirmed. "We had a friend of Dad's confirm it."
"I SEE…AND WHAT DOES SCHMIDT PLAN TO DO NOW?"
"Well, he's still going to use that video of Toy Bonnie's attack as blackmail for Fazbear Entertainment," Susie explained. "He's actually meeting with that Fazbear Entertainment executive today. I think he's going to try to get himself hired as the head of the Special Delivery project so that he can personally go in and fix all of the problems in the animatronics…"
"AH YES…THE TRIED AND TESTED PHILOSOPHY OF IF YOU WANT SOMETHING DONE RIGHT, YOU HAVE TO DO IT YOURSELF," Nightmare commented. "I SEE NOW. YOU HAVE MY SINCEREST CONDOLENCES FOR THE UNFORTUNATE CATASTROPHE THAT AFFLICTED YOUR FATHER. AS FOR FAZBEAR ENTERTAINMENT…I WILL TAKE THE INFORMATION YOU HAVE GIVEN ME UNDER ADVISEMENT." And with those final words, the demon lord hung up the phone.
Susie shuddered as she hung up the phone. It wasn't because she feared that Nightmare would pose a threat to her family. The relationship between the Schmidts and Nightmare had improved to the point that, their opposite moralities aside, they were almost friendly with each other. And given the mutual respect between Mike and Nightmare, she was pretty certain that the demon lord was being genuine in his condolences.
No, the reason why Susie was now so nervous was because she had heard the tone of Nightmare's voice towards the end of the call, and she knew what it meant. Nightmare was furious. Not at her or her family; she had been on the direct receiving end of Nightmare's malice and fury once already, and she was familiar enough with the demon to understand that he wasn't angry at them.
Nightmare had no ill will towards the Schmidt family, But Susie already knew that the demon lord was planning something with regards to Fazbear Entertainment. She hadn't even wanted him to do anything, she just needed someone to vent and rant about her frustrations towards. But in one way or another, Susie had unintentionally put Fazbear Entertainment in the crosshairs of Nightmare's fury, and could only pray that she hadn't somehow fucked up her father's plans.
The Present
"So you ended up accidentally getting Nightmare pissed at Fazbear Entertainment? More than he was already?" Mike summarized.
"Yeah…" Susie replied sheepishly. "Sorry about that, Dad."
Mike shook his head. "I don't think what you did was necessarily wrong," he reassured her. "Telling him what happened to me was absolutely the right thing to do. He's our most powerful ally when it comes to dealing with Glitchtrap's mess, and he deserves to know what's going on."
"I just hope I didn't mess something up by accidentally sending Nightmare after Fazbear Entertainment's executives," Susie mumbled.
Mike shrugged. "Eh, it's not like he can drag their souls to Hell or anything without breaking a lot of afterlife laws and seriously pissing off Heaven," he replied dismissively And it's not like Nightmare's going to deliberately sabotage us when we both hate Glitchtrap more than anything else. What's the worst that he's going do?"
/
A/N: You should know better than to ask questions like that, Mike XD.
So, Fazbear Entertainment wants to hire Mike as part of the Special Delivery project, wanting to take advantage of and exploit Mike's expertise and skillset as a robotics engineer as much as they possibly can. Mike is more than willing to give them what they want…but it's going to cost them in ways other than money to secure his services, even if he is willing to give them for free in the monetary sense.
As for Susie, it's been a while since she's been in the spotlight, so I wanted to give her a chapter. I do want to emphasize that the former Chica inhabitant did NOT want to actually send Nightmare after Fazbear Entertainment. She's just very emotional right now because her dad is in the hospital with a broken arm and leg, something that any caring daughter would be. Susie was merely ranting about Fazbear Entertainment and the unfortunate events that happened to Mike to Nightmare…who decided to take matters into his own hands. The worst she's guilty of is forgetting who she's actually talking to. Which is a mistake that anyone can make.
As for Nightmare…you'll see what he gets up to next chapter.
Hope you guys enjoyed!
